DANA AWAM RUGI 402 JUTA ATAS KERTAS

IPO Time dotCom tidak terlanggan sebanyak 75% dan sahamnya menjunam 26% pada hari pertama tersenarai. Pada hari khamis, ia ditutup pada harga RM 2.17, iaitu 34% di bawah paras tawaran asal (RM 3.30). Ini menyebabkan banyak pihak yang terlalu 'pandai' rugi berjuta-juta dalam beberapa hari sahaja.

KWAP RUGI 310 JUTA

Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP) menjadi sub-underwriter untuk memperolehi 273.9 juta saham Time dotCom shares, atau 10.8% ekuitinya pada kadar IPO RM 3.30 se saham.

Kejatuhan harga saham Time dotCom mengakibatkan pelaburan KWAP sebanyak RM 904 juta bernilai RM 594 sahaja pada hari Khamis - satu kerugian atas kertas kira-kira RM 310 juta.

EPF RUGI 92 JUTA

Pada hari Khamis juga, KWSP atau EPF (Employees Provident Fund) mengumumkan ia memilikki 81.6 juta saham Time dotCom atau 3.22% pegangan melalui pembelian langsung dan penukaran hutang kepada saham pada kadar harga IPO.

Bila bursa di tutup pada Khamis, pelaburan EPF sebanyak 269.3 juta bernilai RM 177.1 juta sahaja atau RM92 juta rugi di atas kertas.

Jadi dua dana ini rugi RM 310 + RM92 = RM 402 juta dalam seminggu sahaja di atas kertas!.

Mereka melabur RM 904 + RM 269.3 = RM 1,173 juta kesemuanya. Sekarang sudah bernilai = RM 1,173 - RM 402= RM 771 juta sahaja.

DANAHARTA MENJADI BOM JANGKA

Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd pula mengatakan ia juga menjadi sub underwriter dan memilikki 80 juta saham Time dotCom, atau 3.16% dari ekuitinya. Danaharta memberitahu ia tidak membayar tunai untuk pegangan itu kerana ia menukar hutang oleh Time Engineering kepada saham Time dotCom pada kadar RM 3.30 sesaham.

Kini Kerajaan Malaysian, melalui 3 agensi dan sayap pelaburan Khazanah Nasional, memilikki 47.18% saham Time dotCom. Jumlah pegangan ini sudah melebihi paras 'mandatory general offer' (33%).

"Danaharta adalah satu-satunya peminjam terbesar institusi perbankan, kerana ia mengeluarkan bon untuk membeli hutang lapuk pada tahun 1998-2000." kata seorang analis bank. "Kita akan menghadapi masalah kredit yang menunggu untuk MELETUP bila bon-bon tersebut matang pada tahun 2003".

Komen:

SIAPA BAPAK TIME DOTCOM

Time Engineering adalah 'bapak' Time dotCom. Ia dimilikki 46% oleh Renong yang menyebabkannya berhutang RM4.5 bilion. Halim Saad menguasai Renong yang intim dengan pemimpin atasan Umno kerana ada bahagian mereka. Sebab itulah ia asyik mendapat projek mega dan ditolong bila sakit dan berhutang dengan banyaknya.

Yang peliknya pembuat hutang ini tidakpun diapa-apakan. Analis berpendapat masalah takkan kemana selagi mereka yang tidak cekap dibiarkan mengurus syarikat. Ia akan mengunang lebih banyak bencana. Patutlah pelabur yang cerdik tidak meminati saham Time dotCom.

EPF DIAM TIBA-TIBA BERSUARA

EPF sengaja mendiamkan diri tetapi terpaksa bercakap juga bila ramai tertanya-tanya apa sudah jadi. Ia menjelaskan ia cuma menukar hutang Time Engineering menjadi ekuiti Time dotCom. Tetapi lebih kurang sahaja maknanya - kerana wang tadi sudah memiliki benda yang semakin tidak berguna.

EPF dan KWAP kini menjadi adik-beradik Danaharta juga sedangkan itu bukan peranan yang sepatutnya dimainkan mereka. Ada banyak lagi pelaburan yang lebih mantap, dan lebih berguna mengapa ia begitu melekat kepada koporat pro Umno? Lebih baik ditubuhkan satu tabung EPF2/KWAP2 yang bebas dari cengkaman sesiapa - nanti kita boleh menilai siapa yang betul-betul menjaga wang warga tua dan siapa yang memijak kepala mereka. Saya percaya orang Umno sendiri akan mengeluarkan wang mereka di dalam EPF/KWAP dan memasukkannya kedalam EPF2/KWAP2!

Mahathir dan kroni mungkin boleh seronok dan bergembira. Tetapi jangan lekas ketawa. Kebanyakkan penyimpan tabung EPF/KWAP itu rakyat yang mengundi juga. Jika dividen teruk angkanya, dia dan Umno mungkin akan rabah dan jatuh lebih awal sebelum pilihanraya. Dan nilai saham time dotCom menjadi nyawa pengukur panjang pendek hidup Mahathir juga.....

-TJr Kapal Berita-

Source: The Asian Wall Street Journal
16th March 2001

Malaysian Funds Buy Costly Stake In Time DotCom

By CRIS PRYSTAY Staff Reporter

KUALA LUMPUR -- Two state-run pension funds and Malaysia's national debt-restructuring agency have acquired a combined 17.2% equity stake in Time dotCom Bhd., after the company's 1.89 billion ringgit ($497.4 million) initial public offering failed to attract private investors.

The government entities' intervention to prop up the IPO effectively shifts part of the cost of rescuing Time dotCom's debt-laden ultimate holding company -- politically connected Renong Bhd. -- from the underwriters of the disastrous IPO to the Malaysian public. The two pension funds have incurred, on paper, a combined loss of about 400 million ringgit in Time dotCom's first four days of trading on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange.

Time dotCom's IPO was 75% undersubscribed and the company's stock plunged 26% on its first day of trading Monday. On Thursday, Time dotCom stock closed at 2.17 ringgit, 34% below its 3.30 ringgit IPO price.

In a statement to the exchange Wednesday night, Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen, or KWAP, a civil servants' pension fund, said it had acted as a subunderwriter to acquire 273.9 million Time dotCom shares, or 10.8% of the company's equity at the IPO price of 3.30 ringgit a share. Because of Time dotCom's plummeting share price, KWAP's 904 million ringgit investment was valued at just 594 million ringgit at the close of trading Thursday -- a paper loss of about 310 million ringgit.

On Thursday, the government's Employees Provident Fund -- to which all salaried Malaysians contribute -- disclosed that it had acquired 81.6 million Time dotCom shares, or a 3.22% stake in the company, through a direct purchase of stock and conversion of debt to Time dotCom shares at the IPO price. At the close of trading Thursday, the EPF's 269.3 million ringgit investment was valued at 177.1 million ringgit, representing a 92 million ringgit loss on paper.

Separately, Malaysia's state-run debt-restructuring agency Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd. said it also acted as a sub-underwriter for the IPO, acquiring 80 million shares in Time dotCom, or 3.16% of the company's equity. Danaharta said it didn't pay cash for the stake. Instead the agency said it converted mainly unsecured debts owed to it by Time dotCom's immediate parent company, Time Engineering Bhd., into shares in Time dotCom valued at 3.30 ringgit each.

Many securities analysts and opposition politicians immediately criticized the transactions. In particular, they complained that the use of state-run pension funds to support Time dotCom's widely criticized IPO will further tarnish Malaysia's reputation as a market where the government is prone to bail out politically well-connected companies. Time Engineering, Time dotCom's parent, is 46% owned by conglomerate Renong, the former business arm of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's United Malays National Organization, or UMNO. Renong's controlling shareholder is businessman Halim Saad, who once managed UMNO's companies for UMNO treasurer and Finance Minister Daim Zainuddin.

"It is clearly a gross mismanagement of public funds to invest some 6% of (KWAP's funds) on a counter which all market analysts had declared would nose dive after its public debut," said Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the opposition Democratic Action Party. "There also needs to be a full explanation as to the involvement of the EPF -- this highlights the whole question of need for full accountability of how the EPF is managed." According to Mr. Lim, KWAP had total assets of 15.13 billion ringgit as of June 30, 2000.

State support for Time dotCom follows a string of perceived government bailouts that have left investors here increasingly cynical and wary. In December, the government announced it would buy back the assets of two unprofitable light rail projects -- one owned by a company in the Renong stable. It also purchased a 29% stake in ailing Malaysian Airlines from businessman Tajudin Ramli, another former business protege of Tun Daim.

Time dotCom's public offering was a key part of a debt workout by Time Engineering, which owed about 4.5 billion ringgit to Malaysian creditors before the IPO. Some analysts contend the government had little choice but to ensure its success. "There's a lot of determination at official levels to see the whole restructuring through, whatever the cost. It's too important to the banking system to let fail," says T.S. Pong, head of research at Jupiter Securities.

While Time dotCom's listing is a boon to Time Engineering creditors, analysts criticized the deal as a substitute for meaningful restructuring at the Renong group. "The management is still the same bunch who got in trouble in the first place. Bringing in a bunch of quasi-government shareholders and the same management is not really restructuring," said a bank analyst at a European brokerage firm.

Many Malaysians are likely to react negatively to the news that their pension funds have incurred huge paper losses on Time dotCom investments. The DAP's Mr. Lim condemned the use of pension funds to mop up the IPO's shortfall a "misapplication of public funds."

"With Danaharta, at least there's some excuse," Jupiter's Mr. Pong said. "It's in charge of rehabilitating bad loans and if these guys can't pay cash, at least they get some shares of marketable value. But the pension fund has less of a case, especially at 3.30 (ringgit)."

An executive at Danaharta, an agency set up after Asia's 1997 financial crisis to manage the banking sector's bad loans, said Thursday its Time dotCom share purchase is part of a debt-for-equity swap that will allow Danaharta to recover 70% of the loans owed to it by Time Engineering.

How Danaharta will dispose of the shares -- and recover cash -- isn't clear, analysts say. Should the agency sell Time dotCom aggressively it could further depress the stock price. Alternatively, Danaharta could unload its holdings through a private sale to some investment fund. If the agency holds the shares until its own debts come due, a larger problem could loom. "Danaharta is one of the banking system's biggest borrowers, because of the bonds it issued to buy bad debts throughout 1998 to 2000," said one banking analyst. "We may have a credit problem waiting to explode when those bonds start coming due in 2003."

Malaysian bankers said the sub-underwriting process removed the risk of losses the underwriting banks would have incurred if Time dotCom shares fell below the IPO price. Malaysian accounting standards require that financial institutions, including banks, value their equity holdings at current market prices, which means they must disclose any paper losses on such holdings in their quarterly financial statements. An analyst familiar with the IPO said the share offering was 95% sub-underwritten, which means the banks will be left with just 5% of the shares.

Commerce International Merchant Bankers Bhd. -- a unit of Malaysia's second-largest banking group, state-controlled Bumiputra Commerce Bhd. -- and Perwira Affin Merchant Bank Bhd., another state-controlled bank, were the chief underwriters for the issue.

http://interactive.wsj.com/

Source: The Business Times, Singapore

16th March 2001

Govt units now have 47% of Time dotCom

Combined stake includes EPF's 3.2%, Kumpulan Wang Amanah's 10.8% By Eddie Toh in Kuala Lumpur

TWO Malaysian government agencies -- the Employees Provident Fund and Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen -- have emerged as substantial shareholders of Time dotCom, raising the government's stake well above the threshold for a mandatory general offer.

EPF disclosed it now owns 3.22 per cent of Time dotCom, a subsidiary of Time Engineering, following the dismal initial public offering exercise that has created a public furore. Bernama last night quoted EPF chairman Halim Ali as stressing that it did not buy the unwanted shares in the IPO that was undersubscribed by 75 per cent last month.

Instead, it has converted part of Time Engineering's debts of RM500 million (S$232 million) to EPF into an equity stake in Time dotCom. EPF also bought 2.85 million shares, or 0.11 per cent of Time dotCom, in a restricted sale of the shares by Time Engineering in January.

While EPF's involvement is part of the debt-restructuring exercise, another state fund, Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen, has mopped up the bulk of the unwanted IPO shares.

On Wednesday night, the state pension fund disclosed that it had bought 273.9 million Time dotCom shares, or 10.82 per cent, at the IPO price of RM3.30 apiece.

A source said KWAP, which was not a creditor of Time, paid RM903.7 million in cash. It is now sitting on a paper loss of almost RM310 million.

Like EPF, bad debt recovery agency Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional has converted its Time Engineering's debts into an equity stake of 3.16 per cent in Time dotCom.

The Malaysian government, through the three agencies and investment arm Khazanah Nasional, now holds 47.18 per cent of Time dotCom. This combined stake is well above the mandatory general offer level of 33 per cent.

It has not indicated if it will seek a waiver from making a general offer.

A general offer for the rest of Time dotCom will be expensive as the offer price will have to be RM3.30 -- the highest price paid in the last 12 months.

However, Time dotCom's share price has plummeted since its debut on Monday.

The counter closed at RM2.17 yesterday, wiping RM2.8 billion off the company's capitalisation in less than one week.

The use of state funds to buy the overvalued shares has got opposition politicians up in arms.

DAP chief Lim Kit Siang has lodged a police report, charging that public funds "should not be tapped for the bailout of the Time dotCom IPO".

http://business-times.asia1.com.sg

http://news.catcha.com/my/content.phtml?1&010&&afpnews.cgi&cat=malaysia&stor y0315090533.hfptlas8.txt

Malaysia opposition leader urges protests over firm's alleged bailout

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (AFP) - A Malaysian opposition leader Thursday called for nationwide protests over claims that the national retirement fund has been used to bail out a politically well-connected firm.

Lim Kit Siang, chairman of the Democratic Action Party, criticised management of the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) for refusing to say whether it has bought shares in telecoms firm Time dotCom at far above their market value.

He told AFP the party would lead peaceful protests at over 50 EPF offices nationwide to "pressure the EPF to change its feudal attitude to one of accountability in keeping with good corporate governance."

The 9.7 million contributors who want to "exert their rights to EPF's management accountability are invited to come along to register their concerns and protests," he said.

A schedule will be issued soon, he added.

On Monday the Sun newspaper reported that the EPF and other state-linked funds were believed to have taken up the unsubscribed public portion of an initial public offering (IPO) by Time dotCom.

Lim on Wednesday filed a complaint with police against the EPF for alleged "criminal breach of trust and criminal misuse of public funds."

The EPF, a fund to which both workers and bosses must subscribe, has declined to comment. The fund declared a dividend of six percent for last year, its lowest for 25 years.

Time dotCom's IPO flopped in February with applications for only a quarter of the 572 million shares which were offered at 3.30 ringgit (86 cents).

The IPO was fully underwritten despite analysts' opinions that the stock was greatly overvalued. The major underwriter said recently that some shares were sub-underwritten to unidentified parties.

Time dotCom made a dismal stock market debut on Monday. By the close Wednesday it was at 2.27 ringgit, down 31 percent on its IPO price.

State employees' pension fund Kumpulan Wang Amanah Pencen (KWAP) has admitted it bought a 10.82 percent stake in Time dotCom at 3.30 ringgit a share.

Pengurusan Danaharta Nasional Bhd, which is tasked with mopping up bad loans, said Thursday it held a 3.16 percent stake in Time dotCom after taking over Time Engineering's non-performing loans.

Time dotCom is a unit of Time Engineering, which in turn is 47 percent owned by debt-laden but politically well-connected conglomerate Renong.

In a statement, Lim said EPF's management should be aware that they were "servants of the 9.7 million EPF contributors and trustees of the 181 billion ringgit in EPF monies and not lords and masters of this hoard of money."

Lim also urged KWAP to explain why it used 904 million ringgit of its funds to buy Time dotCom shares at 3.30.

"KWAP was not established as a fund to bail out crony companies ..." he said.

http://www3.bernama.com/web/business/bu1503_27.htm

March 15 , 2001 22:20PM

EPF Didn't Buy Time DotCom Shares, Says Chairman

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (Bernama) -- The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has not taken up the unsubscribed portion of the initial public offering (IPO) of Time dotCom Bhd, said its chairman Tan Sri Halim Ali.

In a statement released on Thursday, Halim cleared the air on certain media reports which questioned the integrity of the EPF following its alleged involvement in the purchase of unsubscribed Time dotCom shares which debuted on the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE) early this week.

According to Halim, the EPF currently held 81.6 million shares or 3.22 percent of the equity interests in Time dotCom via the investments made prior to the listing of Time dotCom on March 12.

-- BERNAMA